Financial Services Taxes

Matheson has a dedicated financial services tax law team which focuses exclusively on the financial services sector. The team consists of 14 lawyers and tax advisors. Matheson is the only Irish law firm to have a team of this scale focusing exclusively on Irish financial services tax matters.

The financial services tax team advises on all aspects of Irish tax related to financial services. In particular, the team advises asset managers, financial institutions, investment banks, institutional investors and private equity firms on all Irish tax aspects of financial services activity in Ireland, including fund formation, securities transactions, debt capital markets, cross-border financing, asset financing, derivative transactions, banking, life insurance, non-life insurance and reinsurance.

We have significant experience advising investment managers on the establishment of regulated and unregulated investment funds in Ireland and the associated Irish investment funds tax implications. The team also advise many aircraft leasing companies on the tax aspects of carrying on aircraft leasing activity in and from Ireland. We also frequently advise on mergers and acquisitions, tax litigation and tax disputes.

Complete Financial Services Tax Law Service Offering

Matheson’s financial services tax team works with many of the world’s leading financial institutions, including over half of the world’s 50 largest banks and the leading global insurers, as well as almost one third of Irish domiciled investment funds.

The size of our firm enables us to have a number of distinct teams with lawyers focusing on various aspects of financial services tax law in Ireland. Our financial services tax team works closely with those teams to provide comprehensive advice and tailored solutions to clients doing business in all areas of the financial services sector.

We regularly work alongside our Aviation Finance, our Asset Management and Investment Funds Group, our Finance and Capital Markets Group, our Financial Institutions Group and our Corporate M&A Group in particular.

Experience Highlights

Our experience includes advising:

financial institutions on cross-border merger transactions in connection with their Brexit strategies;
on the establishment of Irish banking, insurance and MIFID businesses;
promoters, managers and institutional investors on Irish tax aspects of both regulated and unregulated Irish investment funds;
on the implementation of alternative investment strategies, including direct lending and royalty strategies;

multinational corporations on the Irish tax aspects of debt and equity capital raising transactions in Ireland;
Irish financial institutions and international investment banks on the Irish tax aspects of providing syndicated financing facilities to multinational companies doing business in and from Ireland;
Irish financial institutions, international investment banks, institutional investors and lessors on Irish tax aspects of asset financing and asset leasing transactions and on the establishment of Irish aircraft leasing platforms;

insurance companies on portfolio transfers and business sales;
on a number of CDO and CLO transactions (synthetic and cash, managed and static) originated in the US, Europe and elsewhere arranged by US and European financial institutions;
investment banks in respect of their ABCP, MTN and repackaging programmes; and
multinational corporations, investment managers and institutional investors on the tax aspects of Irish real estate investments.